They would never state it so bluntly but this appears to be the Conservative government position on the unionized worker’s right to collective bargaining:
You workers may exercise your constitutional right to bargain for a better or even a standstill contract only so long as it does not affect anyone.
The moment you attempt to exercise your bargaining rights and it affects anyone else, forget it. The government will end your little fantasy of a modicum of economic power with back-to-work legislation that almost always favours the employer.
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Canada Post’s unionized employees went on strike to save some of their benefits? Back to work, laggards, because Aunt Millie who voted Conservative won’t be able to get her junk mail telling her all the glorious things her Conservative MP is doing for her.
Air Canada employees strike because of arrogant management and cutbacks? Back to work, you laggards, because it is a school break week and hard working Canadians (and potential Conservative voters) have booked flights to get away from the drudgery that is Canada.
Canadian Pacific Railway employees, faced with company demands that they concede a significant reduction in their pension benefits that they have paid into for years, go on strike and within days, the Conservatives break the strike.
Farmers on the Prairies demanded it because their products in and out are not moving.
It is a legitimate complaint, but is the problem workers who are trying to maintain the support programs they had purchased and been promised — a bit like how farmers would react if the government suddenly announced the programs they have been paying into and counting on were being changed to save money — or is the problem the company with strong profits?
Still, Conservatives scored some more rural political points by moving quickly to shut down a strike that was hurting the agricultural base that supports it.
Every dollar earned by a CPR employee is a dollar out of their pocket.
Farmers, of course, have no sympathy for striking CPR employees because they know from experience that the railway always plays fair when it is in the driver’s seat.
But this latest Conservative rush to end an economically damaging rail strike raises a serious issue.
Is there a right to strike in this country or is there not?
Labour actions affect people. That is their purpose.
Without the right of employees to strike, employers have no incentive to compromise.
If every time a legal strike affects the economy and the government reaction is to close it down, the employer knows there is no need to bargain. Hold tough and let legislation deal with it.
The alternative, of course, is to declare certain sectors “essential services,” which requires no strikes but an agreement that balances the interests of both sides.
It works in some health-care work settings but not in the hurly burley of the marketplace.
Instead, that’s where the strongest wins, unless of course they are losing and people are being hurt and then it’s time to call in the feds to end the hurt.
So is this a country with a constitutional right to collective bargaining or isn’t it?
The Conservative government answer seems to be no, if anyone is being affected.
